You get caught with a fifth of Jägermeister in the dorms by a resident assistant. You don’t live in the dorms, but you’re still a University student. What now?
Under the rules, punishments and hearing procedures provided under the University’s official student conduct code, students can be held responsible and disciplined for conduct on and off campus, and can also be punished under University guidelines separately and at the same time as they are undergoing legal proceedings and charges in off-campus jurisdictions and municipalities.
According to resources on the University’s website, the student conduct code is an official document that outlines proper student behavior on and off of campus. The majority of its regulations line up with standard municipal code. Academic misconduct, improper alcohol consumption, hazing, drug use, and physical and sexual assault are all included. Additionally, the code provides a means under which students can be held accountable for inappropriate actions in hearing-like settings, although the exact wording is careful not to identify these procedures as trials.
In a panel hearing, a student can argue his or her case against up to 18 individuals, but it’s typically only four or five, Carl Yeh, University director of student conduct and community standards said. At least one of these individuals must be a student. Yeh’s office is responsible for the direct oversight of the student conduct code.
In a panel hearing, a student has the right to appeal a decision and can speak directly with his or her peers. Theoretically, allegations of misconduct against an individual can be overturned in a panel hearing, but Yeh said if a case has gone to a hearing, it is likely a student has violated the student conduct code.
“There is a chance that the student behaved in a way that I, or maybe a member of the panel, considers to be in violation of the code,” Yeh said. “But people aren’t reported for no reason.”
In addition, Yeh said his office would not likely go after a student who violated a portion of the student conduct code off-campus and already faced legal action for his or her actions, although it still theoretically could.  
“I would definitely still want to sit down and have a conversation with that student,” Yeh said.
An alternative to a panel hearing is what’s called an administrative conference. In an administrative conference, a student waives the right to appeal in a private, closed-door meeting with a faculty member or administratively selected representative, such as a student housing official in some residence-hall-related incidents. Therefore, all decisions in the conference are final, but a student cannot be suspended, expelled or receive a negative notation on his or her University transcripts based on a decision made in an administrative conference. This can be particularly important, as under state records laws a negative notation will remain under public records for 75 years and can have a detrimental effect when seen by potential future employers during background checks.
The University officially insists that all students should know the student conduct code. However, an unscientific street poll found that many students weren’t aware of the student conduct code’s basic rules, let alone the administrative conferences, public hearings and potential punishments as a result of infractions under the student conduct code.
“I know there are some rules, but I don’t know the student conduct code,” University sophomore Brody Case said. “It can apply to stuff off campus? Whoa! No way, I had no idea.”
Some students, however, said they are familiar with the code.
“I work in a residence hall, and we make sure everyone there knows the rules,” University junior Janessa Nelson said. “I think everyone knows about not having alcohol, not smoking pot, and that we enforce that sort of thing.”
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Paul Shang said that even he felt that students needed to be made more familiar with the student conduct code.
“I believe that we don’t talk about it as mush as we should,” Shang said. “I think that a lot of students feel that there may be a lot of mystery behind it and a lot of suspicion.”
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